How to build gospel culture in your church


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Galatians 2:11-21 has been unsettling me for forty years. Paul rebuked Peter publicly — for what? They agreed on gospel doctrine: “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law


but through faith in Jesus Christ” (verse 16). But they clashed on gospel culture: “How can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (verse 14). For that, Paul rebuked Peter openly and


bluntly. Advertise on TGC Gospel culture is not an optional add-on. It is as essential to our integrity as is gospel doctrine. But we pastors who preach the doctrine might neglect to nurture


the culture, because the preaching is more easily defined, while the nurturing requires relational sensitivity and personal vulnerability. But without the ministry of gospel culture, our


churches risk standing as living _denials_ of the very truth we preach. And then we wonder why people don’t respond, why our churches don’t get more traction. This being so, _nothing is more


essential to our churches than building them as gospel cultures_. If we must preach the gospel in our church doctrine, then _equally_, we must embody the gospel in our church culture. But


if we forsake the fullness of this pastoral responsibility, we allow our churches to believe the truth as theory only, while practicing lies in reality. And Jesus did not die and rise again


so that we who name Him live by lies. Several years ago I presented a paper at The Gospel Coalition national gathering in Orlando: “How to build a gospel culture in your church.” The PDF is


here: GDGC. I hope it helps. RAY ORTLUND (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; MA, University of California, Berkeley; PhD, University of Aberdeen, Scotland) is president of Renewal Ministries


and an Emeritus Council member of The Gospel Coalition. He founded Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and now serves from Immanuel as pastor to pastors. Ray has authored a number of


books, including _The Gospel: How The Church Portrays The Beauty of Christ_, _Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel_, and, with Sam Allberry, _You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary


Churches_. He and his wife, Jani, have four children.